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Friday, November 30, 2012

Hello, and I am officially calling this day, Holiday season. Yes I know we had thanksgiving, but nothing says holiday like the end of November. Black Friday has nothing on this, because it is time to make homemade items. Two week ago, I showed you a gift card holder, but this time, it is time to say thank you to all of the service people who you see on a regular basis: The postal worker, the mechanic who fixes your car, the cleaning people, even the wait staff at your favorite place to eat. They need some loving as well. Now I am not suggesting that you go to your favorite store and getting them a gift card (unless you want to), I am suggesting something that will put a smile on their face. Make up a few of these to keep on hand and when the mood hits you, you can write a little note in the card wishing them the merriest of holidays, and the card only costs about .30 cents to make.

Fold your cardstock in half. Place the patterned paper on top. Next place the stamped image on top of that.

For the inside you can do this :

Place the index card on the inside so you can write a little note. The card itself is simple, and fun, and you can make them for anytime of the year. Just change up the season. Have them on hand to write a thanks you note to anyone. Thank you for stopping by today and Be Blessed this holiday season.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

At least as far as Cricut is concern. Friday, I dragged my mom out to go with me to look for a paper storage item at Jo-Ann's. They also had cartridges on sale. So we go in, and I started looking for the paper storage unit. Found it. Next, I went over to the Cricut section with mom following behind with the cart. I wanted one of two carts: Elegant Edges or Mini-books.
Elegant Edges is this cart that somewhat resembles Storybook with shapes and edging. what makes it different from Storybook (which btw is an older cartridge and I adore very much) is some straight edging (some call it bordering). Elegant Edging is a full cartridge, which means it had more than 50 images to choose from (see my last post for further details). Mini-books is a project cartridge, which means that all the images tie in together to make a project, in this case, a mini-book. I have been looking to step up my game in this area of my creativity, even though I have made several books already, all different sizes, shapes, and types, I have not made any of the ones Cricut suggests to cut out with the machine. It would be interesting, because I have one due to go into the mail next week, and I do not like the current one I am making for my mini-book partner. Monday, I am firing up one of three machines, cutting the book of my choosing.
Oops, I made a big Boo-boo. Here is where I was supposed to tell you which cartridge I chose to buy, and by now, you may have guessed the Mini-Book Project Cartridge. Well I can always get the Elegant Edges one later, especially since Mike's (My nickname for Michael's Arts and Crafts) and Jo-ann's have a sale on them every other week.
Anyway, I will take pictures of the new one when I am finished it. Meanwhile, have a blessed Sunday.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Welcome to Black Friday!! My favorite time of year as both shopper and merchant. (Well it is one of my favorites)

Please forgive me when I say this...I have sales. Yes, I do. Ok, let's get started.

"Welcome to Our Home" is a set of 8 embossed cards. They are elegant enough to use for a party of 8, but yet so down to earth to use as an open house. It does not matter if you are moving or not.

They are listed on Shoplocket at $14.00. Envelopes are included.

Handmade Note Cards are cute as a gift tags this time of year. These will also be listed on Shoplocket as well.

The rest of my card listings will be in my Etsy shop, MDN Creates (www.etsy.com/shop/mdncreates) or click on shop MDN Creates link at the top of the blog. There is a coupon code for you to use. It is code Cmascrd4u, and it is for 20% off the price. You can use it through Tuesday November 27. Each of my products listed can be customized towards your tastes, and I am taking orders for all products. If there isn't something that you do not see here, I will be adding more as the Christmas holiday season gets underway. I cover all holidays, birthdays, Wedding invites and more. I will even make scrapbooks, home management systems, and art journals.

Well that is it for Black Friday on MDN Creates. If you want some more good deals, there are some on my other site: Tricia's Baskets where I am an Independent Longaberger Home Consultant.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

I am an affiliate of Cricut. If you have not used this machine before, you are missing out on a treat. The reason why I am an affiliate is because I use this product (I have three machines, more on that later), and more teachers use this machine, because it is easier on children (Although the I would recommend that children start using it at age 7), and there are cartridges geared towards the classroom.
Cartridges:
Cartridges are what make this machine run, and do the job needed to cut the images. There are many types of cartridges. The first type is the foundation cartridge. It comes with the machine. These cartridges is a sampling of what to expect from the other cartridges, such as shapes, letters, and 3-D projects. The next type of cartridge is seasonal cartridge. To be honest, most cartridges of this type are now retired,and only one or two can still be sold in the stores. Your best bet is on Ebay and other auction sites. Seasonal and the newer cartridges called project cartridges have about half of the images of a full size cartridge. The project cartridge are images that help make a project, for instance, a mini book, or bridal shower decorations. The last type of cartridge is the full size cartridge, which comes in to different sizes, one for the regular machines, and one for the imagine machine. The cartridges for the imagine machine allow the machine to print and cut out images.

The Machines:

I am not going into the basis of the machines, but you can read about it in a previous article of mine I wrote for Hubpages by clinking on this link. It talks mainly about the Cricut Expression 2 machine, but I also give some pointers about the other machines as well.

Overall, The things I like about this line of machines by Provo Craft, is they are versatile. In addition to using the cartridges in the traditional way, many crafters like myself hook the machine up to their computer, go online to Cricut.com, and work their machines through the Cricut Classroom. In Cricut Classroom(CCR) crafters cam load up their cartridge on their machine, and through the software bring it up on their screen online and make new shapes out of them. Provo Craft also have additional images (both free and paying) that a crafter can cut with their machine. This makes Cricut a competitor with other electronic die cutting machines, such as The silhouette , Black Cat Cougar, and Craftwell Ecraft machines. This allows me to save my work on my computer, and get back to it later. Of course I can also use my machines without a computer too. I have three uniquely made machines, each with a different purpose in mind when a bought them.
For the Expression machine, when I first bought it, it was replacing the original Cricut machine that started it all. the Original machine ( or baby bug as some like to call it) cut only the the size of a 6 x 9 sheet of paper. For me, the problem with the machine is I would take either a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 or 12 x 12 paper, and cut it down to the size of the mat. This machine is great for making cards. When I got the Expression 2 machine, I got it to replace the first one, because it was getting tired, but I found out that the E1 machine has a lot of life left in it. After that, it was a matter of the machine having WiFi and other little goodies that the original Expression machine did not have. For the Imagine machine, it was the ability of printing and cutting in one machine, a feature that neither of the other two machines do not have the capability of doing. I used them in much the same way too. I get out E1 for simple jobs, E2 to see how to cut my shapes, where they can go on the map, and cut with the build in shapes, the Imagine to colorize, and to print out the cartridge shapes and cut them out. I did not get the Cricut Mini, because it is made to cut out on only 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, and I can do that with the machines I have by just re-sizing the cutting area.

In the next couple of days, you will see a Hanukkah card from me. In the meantime, have a deliciously, guilt-free, but grateful Thanksgiving day, complete with football games, guest galore, and blessings abound. be safe when you go shopping so early on thanksgiving and Black Friday. Give some love to the small and home businesses next Saturday, and Cyber Monday, and I will talk to you later.

Happy Thanksgiving. Here is another card creation that is simply and fun. I call it Happy Hanukkah. I will be honest, I am not Jewish, and I do not know a whole lot about the Jewish faith or race, so please forgive me if I say something wrong. From what I was told in my Christian upbringing, Hanukkah, which is celebrated for 8 nights and as the Festival of Lights as a celebration of the re-dedication of the holy temple. this was during the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. It was said that during that time, they thought that they had enough oil for just one night, but it lasted 8 nights.
Of course, I had to create a card for the occasion. I wanted to capture the right moment and mood. I knew that the colors were blue, white, and sometimes gold, and it would be used in the same way that colors green, red, gold, and burgundy would be used for Christmas. I wrestled with it a bit more, and other than the menorah and a dreidel for symbols, that was all I could remember. This was back when I did an internship to become a preschool teacher.

Materials:

1 image (this image is from the Microsoft image library, but any stamp or digi image will do as long as you can color it)
1 piece of cardstock for matting. size it to the image and leave an inch or less for that matted look. my edge is 1/8 inch.
1 card blank
Markers (I used Copic markers, but any will do)
Glimmer Mist Dazzle Diamonds

So I choose a simple menorah, back by a smoky blue mat that barely peeks through. The image comes from Microsoft.com, and I simply printed it out on folder, manila colored. Of course this was left over from a project I was working on. I colored it in with copic markers, and the blend mix is Cadmium Yellow (Y15), Loquat(YR12), and Sanguine (YR18) for the middle candle, flames, and the candelabra; Night Blue (B97) and Light crockery blue (B93) for the other candles and the squiggles. I then took the Blending pen (0) to blend in. Lastly for some shimmer, I misted on some Dazzle diamonds from Glimmer Mist over all, and heat set it with my heat gun. I popped the image/mat group with pop dots. At the bottom I wrote Happy Hanukkah. cute and simply.
the inside is left blank so words of encouragement or wisdom can be written to the receiver. I love how this card turned out.
I find that sometimes you have to face your fears, and I was afraid that this card would not turn out when way I liked. I hope you have enjoyed this fun but simple card. Be blessed on this Thanksgiving day.

Friday, November 9, 2012

One of my favorite smell for the holiday season is Gingerbread. I also love making it, especially in house form. I made a gingerbread sled when I was in the seventh grade. It was one of those take home to do Home-economics projects (which I do not think today's children know anything about). Anyway, it turned out to be an OK project. The family devoured it in one sitting.
I made a gift card holder to place gift cards in, but I was afraid of it at first. I was not sure about how I was going to make it nor what I was going to put on front of it. It would not look right to have a plain old gift card holder. Then I had some card blanks lying around, and the Kraft card blank look like the perfect color and shade to make it into a gingerbread type gift card holder. The great thing about this holder is there is no need for any die cut machines. If you were one of the people left without electricity from Hurricane Sandy, but you have not lost your supplies, this is a perfect card to make for someone to give to, no matter what the situation is.
So you are going to need the following materials:

For the patterned paper, I used DCWV's 180 Christmas stack and Echo Park's Dots and Stripes (Christmas), and the cardstock I got from my local Archiver's.

Fold your kraft cardstock in half to make a card blank. You can use a bone folder to make a sharp crease in the card. place double-sided tape on the front and back of the card, and set it aside. do not take the cover off the tape yet.
Next, fold your patterned paper the same way. remove tape cover and place the patterned tape on top of the card blank. Make sure it is even before permanently pressing it to the card blank. Set aside. Next we are working on the inside of the card.Next take the coordinating cardstock and fold it in half to make it 4" x 4". open and take the top left-hand corner of the card, and fold it towards the center of the card to make a triangle. do the same for the top right-hand corner. You are going to take double-sided tape and place in on the inside of the card blank (kraft), and along the bottom of the card. Next, line up the triangles and press to form a pocket. cut out two triangle of coordinating patterned paper, and glue it to the pockets. You are basically done. What you can do next is cut out the imagines and place 3-d dots on the back of the images and pop them up. Place on the front cover and the other two on the packets.. I also decorated the inside with faux stitching in white gel pen, but again, this is optional.
You can make this a couple gift card holder, a children's gift card, place money on one side, gift card on the other, in case the receiver does not have enough to cover the cost of the gift. Anything is possible.
Well that is it. Make other cards with this template. Change the size, the colors. This also makes a great gift card holder for the bride and groom.
I will talk to you later, and be blessed everyday.

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ALL CONTENT, INCLUDING PHOTOS, TEXT AND CONCEPT DESIGN ELEMENTS ARE COPYRIGHTS OF PATRICIA LOGAN. FEEL FREE TO USE ANY OF MY IDEAS FOR INSPIRATION IN YOUR PROJECTS. PLEASE DON'T SUBMIT ANY OF THEM INTO ANY CONTESTS OR USE COMMERCIALLY WITHOUT GETTING PERMISSION FIRST. THANK YOU.

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Please feel free to use my creations as an inspiration for your work. I do not mind sharing. However, please do not claim it for your own work, use it in a publication, or sell it through another website or in a craft show without my permission. Some of the materials I use in my projects have been researched by me, and are being used according to that company's Angel Policy. All my posts and ideas posted are protected through Myfreecopyright.com.